Physiognomy And Expression

The Contemporary

Science Series

Physiognomy
and Expression

T/JE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES.

liom* IV HAVELOCK ELLI&

PHYSIOGNOMY AND EXPRESSION

Physiognomy

AND

Expression

ur

PAOLO MANTEGAZZA,

XiMlvr; DitvUrtfllH Ifitfittud AAtAnp&w,

7V*AfaU i Sock* AnOny*^J7-

THIRD EDITION.

THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD.

LONDON AND NEWCASTLE ON-TVNE.

1934 .

PREFACE.

Tims book la « page 0 / psychology -a study on the human
countenance sod on humor, expression. Scientific both
In its end and in its method, it takes up the study of
expression at the point where Darwin left it, and modestly
claims to have gone a step further.

I have set myself the task of separating, once for all,
positive observations from the number of bud guesses,
ingenious conjectures, which hare hitherto encumbered the
path of these studies My wish has been to render to
science that which is due to science, and to imagination
that which is due to imagination. The human countenance
interests all ; it is a book in which all must read, every day
and every hour. The psychologist and artist wilt find in
this work new facts and facts already known, but interpreted
by new theories. Perhaps it may also throw Into pro
minence some of tire lows to which human expression r.
subject.

1*. M.

CONTENTS

PSEFACT

PART L-THE HUMAN COUNTENANCE.

CHAPTER I.

IIbtok’cm Sketch or int Science op Phv8(03"<omy

Ann or Human Kxnnao* . .

CHAPTER It

Tiic Honan Face

CHAPTER III.

To* FxAruxu or -nil Human Pack

Tho r««l»ciil— The eya, ejabeOWi, iuuI ejnln.bei— T ic
note— The month—' The dun— The dado— The cirs
—The leeth.

CHAPTER IV.

Tui Maja akd tin 3BAt.li— Moles -Wunucs

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Owi'acativs Mo»r:iouxi* o» hie Iltf**.' Pack .
^Kathode of Hie fice.

PART II.— THE EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS

CHAPTER VI.

The AL*tiA*a7 or K *? e * ft:on

CHAPTER VII.

The daews him Laws op Expm«iok

CHAPTER VIII.

Clauipication or E*.«*iWO«— C***r.«t View op »ix

Phukmuia or BxranuoN .... 96

CHAPTER IX.

The ExmaiiOk op Pl*A3U»*

CHAPTER X.

rut EjisbwiOP OP Pair

CHAPTER XL

EWUMIOR OP Lovt AHD OP Il&MVOLIKCS

CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER XII.

Kxratiaios or DxvonaK. or VimbbatioKi and of

RlLiCIOLI fllLKS .

CHAPTER XIII.

Exrauuax or HATaatk, or Cauxc.Tr, and or Pawon .

CHAPTER XIV,

Tier. Exfrihion or P*m«, Vahity, lUucurrn«uf,
.Vonasrr, akd Huuiuahou ....

CHAPTER XV.

Kxr*in.toK or Pobmhal Piruieas, Pi»r, DiiTtorr—
Dekriitiok or Tiuionv acoorbmm to nit o:o
PiiviiooNDMnra . . .

CHAPTBR XVL

The Exr»EiS(ON or Tuscan ....

CHAPTER XV I L

GacBtM. UxrRSMiowt— R e?C«s and Actios, Disoucrrup*,
iMPATIXiCR, KxPICTATTOS, DmilB . . .

C ha uctera at mpietdan according to age. in.
mart. dimeter, ednaifoa.

CHAPTER XVI 1L

Kauai, aso PxorisstoKAt BXMUUKMI , . .

CHAPTER XIX.

Tut Moderator* anti Kistukhchs or Expbjrucn

ix

Fill

t»

'M

tio

*93

MQ

*1J

lit

**S

> CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER XX.

Csirsnu jos iji s DmaWNATios q/'ruc Stscncth or
*x Emotion it 7 H» Jlxnsst or 711* Exfim'W .

CHAPTER XXL

Tks Fivi Vauicit on Tua Hcwan Face

Tne ^jwoXBico! verdict—' Thr jcud and evil mlto—
PslWofiml phjJkBocuik*

CHAPTER XX IL

Ct.rrrs.tA fob Judoixo rue Mojal Worm or a Phtsi-
ocxovv . . . , . .

The §jcod am! the e\ii face.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CllTOIA lot; JODOitfO TOC IwrctiecrOAL Valos or a
Facx . . . , ,

The Xtpid tzd the inleliigau kc.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Tut PxntOOMOMY or Grsi'UKCS AND TOE EXMAiKM or
Clovhm , . . , ,

APPENDIX.

Til* Eria. Haik, and Bcakd in TH* Itauax Rack* .

?LAna

l^DEX .

PAOfc

*61

«74

>33

2Q2

301

3 15

3*9

RAMA VARMA RESEARCH INSTITUTE,

TRICHUR. COCHIN STATE.

J/h 6 ?

PHYSIOGNOMY

AND THU

EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS.

PART I.

T/TE m/it At/ COUNTENAt/CE.

CHAPTER !.

HISTORIC*!. SU1CB or 1HU SClIiNCX Of MV8IOOXOMV
AKD or HUMAN MFitfcSUON.

In the restricted portion of the ootid which our human
eyes can penetrate we we the first germs of Living beings
bem and developing in conformity with laws identical
with those which rule over the birth and evolution of
sciaiccs in the tranquil laboratory of tlie intellect At
first a confused vortex of atoms appears, each seeking
the other and grouping themselves in attempts to form
the first combinations of force and the simplest symnie-
tries of form. Soon the organ* of inferior order indis-
tinctly manifest themselves; the para which were at
firr; confused arc diflciendnlod little by little. In propor-
tion as the members take shape nntl their articulations
are established, they go on to mark out a scale cf large
things, enclosing others small and very small, which will
in turn become very large; in like manner an infinite
series of germ; contained in one germ will Hiccctsivc'-y

PHYSIOGNOMY.

give blnh to new forms and to new descendants. And
finally we find OUBCh-es ace to face with an organism,
provided with distinct members, ^hich claims for itself a
part ol space, a share of the sun, and a name. Thus
are bom the mushroom and the oaV, the ant and the
man ; in like manner science wo is bom and develops.

The progress of ail science has also been the progress
of that science which we call physiognomy or roetopcocopy,
different names signifying the tame tiling— the study of
the human countenance. Long before there words had
found a place in our dictionaries, and in the history of
science, man had looked into tbc face of his fcllow-raan
to read there joy and piin, hatred and love, and had sought
to draw thence conclusions both curious and of daily
practical use. There is no untutored people, no rudimen-
tary language which has not incorporated in some proverb
lire result of these first spoils of divination. Humpbacks,
squint*, sparkling or dull eyes, the varying length of the
nose, the varying width of tb= mouth, all are honoured or
condemned in popular proverbs. These proverbs are the
first germs of the embryonic substance which later on
yield materials foe a new science.

In there fust attempts we always meet the infantine
inexperience of ignorance; sympathies and antipathies are
there translated into irrefragable dogmas and verdict*
without appeal ; instinct and sentiment hold the place of
observation and calculation. All is seasoned with the
magic which is ono of tbc original sins of the human
family. This seasoning always becomes more abundant in
proportion a* the need of new foods increases, and ends by
being almost entirely substituted for tire real nourishment,
which is Insufficient to satisfy the great hunger. And then
man, not contented to examine tire human face and
translate it into proverbs and into physiognomical laws of
fortuitous coincidence! or suggestions of sympathy and
antipathy, goes on to reek in the heavens and among the

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

i

niii lelntiom between tbe constellations and our features,
and erects this odd edifice of judicial asaology— a veritable
white magic applied to the study of the human face
Kagic demands a magician ; he envelops himself in the
mystery of the inconceivable to explain the unintelligible,
and magic becomes an industry, a trade which (aliens a
small number of knaves at the expense of a large number
of fools.

Such t3 tltc true origin, liulc honourable as it may be, of
Physiognomy. Then come the fust writers, who collect
from tbe mouths of the people and in their proverbs tbe
scattered materials of tbe new science ; they add numerous
conjectarcs of tbeir own, give a name to their doctrine, and
return to the ignorant crowd in a dogmatic form ell that
they first received from them. A literature in its childhood
is always encyclopedic. Therefore tbe first elements of
physiognomy are to be found :n the Bible, in the
Fathers, in tbe philosophers, and In the poets. Giovanni
Battista Dalla Porta was right when he wrote on the title-
page of the beautiful Pint Deck of his work' that
physiognomy Wat born 6/ natural frintSfla ; and in his
preamble, In a page abounding in audacity and powerful
historical syntheses, he was justified in showing how
the germs of the science of which he was beginning
the study were to be found scattered in the works of the
great minds who hsd preceded him I have pleasure in
quoting some passages.

" Adamantine raid that the character is expressed by the
forehead and the eyes, even when the mouth is silent.
The philosopher Cleantbea was wout to tay, after Zeno,
that dispositions might be recognised from tlic face The
Pythagoreans bad a rule, recording to lambltchus, when
ditcipks came to them demanding to tic instructed, to
accept none, unlca they bad ascertained by clear

1 Gio. BattnU Doth Porta NapoWu*. /Ufa Aiicwini Mr
libel lei, Padots, 16*7, y. I.

4

PHYSIOGNOMY.

indications, drawn from their countenances and their
whole external appearance, that they would succeed in
learning, They said that nature dfnatituta the body after
the soul, and gives to this the instrument* which are
necessary for it, that she shows us in the body the image of
the soul, or rslber that the one is the pattern of the other.
Wc retd in Plato that Socrates admitted none to philoso-
phy unless assured by examining his face that he was
suited to it.

"The physiognomy of Aklbiades indicated, said Plutarch,
that he was destined to raise himself to the highest tank in
the republic. Plato* and after him Aristotle, said that
nature proportions the body to the activity of the soul.
In fact every instrument which is made with n view to
a certain thing must be proportioned to this thing. All
the parts of the body are nude for some thing, and this
cause foe which a thing a made is an ietion ; whence it
clearly follows that the body altogether haa been created by
nature with a view to an excellent action, Nestor,
according to Homer, by the resemblance which he finds
in the face of Telenuchus, conjectures as to what his soul
must be.

" ‘By certain signs that I discern upoo thy &ce, 0
illustrious youth, I recognise whose son thou att. I do
not wonder to non such splendour in thy eyes. Thy
face is proud and generous, thy great eloquence and
thy reason recall to me thy father. What youth could
such a one as thou be, were he not the son of the great
Ulysses?'"

Aristotle wrote a book on the physiognomy, and Plato,
although he was n« an evolutionist, compared the physiog-
nomy of nun to that of animals. DaHa Porta, even white
he related the great Greek philosopher on this point, and
maintained that it was unreasonable to imagiuc that It
would be possible to find a nun whoso body was entirely
similar to that of on animal, is still continually ranking

HISTORIC A I. SKETCH.

5

analogies in hi* work between can and the animals, and
illustrates hi* comparisctu by numerous figures.

To quote an example, Plato lad said that the genu* lion
must be generous and bold; in other word*, that a mm
would be courageous If he had something of the Hoe, such
as a broad chest, wide and powerful chouldera, etc. In bit
turn, Dalla Porta continually draws parallels between pm-
cocks, dogs, hotsea, asses, oxen, cocks, pigs, and otbtr
brutes on the one side, and men on the other. Two
examples will suffice to show up to whit point the
Neapolitan physiognomist pushed thesa analogies. On
page 115 Hi of the edition nlreac'y quoted be compares a
marine fish, the skate, with the Emperor Domitian—

‘Tn the following plate is seen the face of Uomitian
represented after his statue in marble and antique medals,
and opposite a skate from nature-'

And on page 164 arc wen the lower liraba of an ape
and those of a man with this indication—

“In the place below will be found the buttocks of the
ape and those of a thin and withered man."

It appears, however, that these impious analogies formed
no obstacle in lose days to dying in the odour of sanctity,
for Dalla Porta ended his days surrounded by univeral
veneration, and was interred In a church
The Jeiuit Nsqurtius, who was one of the most (earned
among those who wrote upon physiognomy in the seven-
teenth century, quotes in hj wort up authors, without
counting, be says, Strifi/uram stwsm, qua, ut ait Ongiw,
leitnHanm ut unitmitas, anil among them St Ambrose,
St Gregcey the Great, St Gregory of Naciiantea, St
Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustin, Saint
Peter DamiaD, Saint Thomas, among the taint*; Aristotle,
Platci, Cardano, Seneca, Tcrtullian, among the philo'
gophers and the theologians; Xcnoplvco, Strabo, Plutarch,
Tacitus, among the historians; Aristophanes, Juvenal,
Lucan, Lucian, Martial, Pctronius, among the poets;

6

PHYSIOGNOMY.

Averrocs, Avicenna, Hippocrates, Cctaia, Galea, Pliny,
among the niluraliats and physiaup. 1

The seventeenth century was the. golden age of astro*
logical or aemiastiological physiognomy. Then, more
than ever, men had a passion tor the mysterious, for
enigmas wliich had a scientific colouring. A Spanish
writer, Jerome Cortes born at Valencia, said naively in a
very curious book, " Physiognomy is nothing but an
ingenious and subtle science of human nature, thanks to
which one may know the good or bad complexion, the
virtues or rices of the man considered an au animal" ’

In fact, tho good Cortes to be consistent with his
definition, gare us in hh volume after hit treatise on the
physiognomy other curious things — such ns the praise of
rosemary ( Trata! o teguodo d /at txwttuiai del Romero
y tu taffdad), the praise of the elixir of life, and a number
of recipes, among which was that of a powder of iregi, pa
tietu lirtud de icldar lat vtnoi rempidas y un unguente
preaoiiip'mo para stinar teda fistoia y Ua&a wja, y drat
mala (which hat the property of healing burst wins, and
which is a very precious ointment to cure all fistulas and
old wound* and othet evils).

The wccics on judicial astronomy are very numerous.
In them the meat singular and ridiculous assertions arc
found. One would say that these books must have been
written either by a fool or a drunkard. It will be enough
to quote as an example Cardano,* who ha* haxarded die
oddest forecasts In his work, not only at to the character at
conjectured from die physiognomy, its wrinkle* and it*

' R. P. nooor.Ul Niqurtil, e SocfcUte Jet n. sosardotii, thaJogl.
Pliwtegnomia Hannas, liWI Iv. dliUnaa. Edillo piaia, I-uptiml,
:64s.

' ttierccynio Cortes, HdonmU y varia StnUti it Natvrdnt,
etc. B»ie«l<in», 161a.

* H. Cardan! Mritd WollolaneaiU, Maiofoucftli. «u. Lscue
Purkkauir, «5$S.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

spots, but aba o> to the events which would happen in (he
coarse of life. In Plate L, figs, a, t, e, specimens frnm his
Fiionomia attrviogica will he found.

On the fo’chend seven lines are drawn, consccratod,
proceeding from above down to Sstorn, Jupiter, Mors,
the Sun. Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. As the
linos were straight, oblique, or crowed, so the response
varied. Fig. I, for example, represents a man who,
according to tbe signs on hia forehead, »aa deemed to die
by banging or by drowning. Fig. e another who must of
necessity be triUii or tiliouu.

De la Chamlue exposes in there terms the sophistry on
which astrological physiognomy is founded 1 —

“The bead is indubitably tbe epitome of the whole
heavens: like there it has its constellations and its signs.
Bat if wc note the star*, their situation and their more-
meats, without knowing their nature, nor why they are
thus disposed, wo mny say as much of all para of the
lace."

De la Cbambee is a judicious miter. Although he lived in
the midst of astrology and chiromancy he revolted against
the prejudices of his time, and he dared, although timidly,
to write a chapter entitled— TV juigMHt wt mill pan
on Chiromancy and Mt/efouopj? He does not deny
all, he docs not assent to all, and concludes by saying thu
it is necessary to guard agninst cxiggcralions, that there is
much truth in astrology, but not so much as tbe chiro-
mandst astrolcgeis pretend.

It was, however, Dalla Porta who had the hctwur of
combatting judicial astrology unmasked. After the book
which we have already quoted, he published another —

Of Clin Ha l Pkyricgnamy : fix boakf in johhh l/u /ihehotd
ef judicial astronomy is alablishtd, and whtitin lie way by

1 De U C&&tnbre» U*rl dt an nsitte fa /<«««. Aaitcrdan,
c6to.

• INdm, p. 2tA

8

PHYSIOGNOMY.

which one may recognise in natural causes ail that the asptet,
the appearance, ana the features of me n tan physically signify
and anntHBce, is put forth. {Padua, 1623.)

In this work the Nccpphtan author demonstrates that the
features of a man are due to his temperament am! not to
the Mars; and having cited as an example the opinions
of astrologers on tho character of men born under the
influence of Saturn, he adds—

"We lave reported their opinions, not to approve them,
but to refute them at old aimin' s stories. Dissimulating
their falsehood, prelecting ai coming from heaven and the
stare magnificent and prodigious tiling*, they make us
accept as divine lh« which h derived from natural sources.
We have said thet the Saturnims are said to be melancholy,
cold, and sapless. If we investigate the opinion of
physicians, Galen attributes to the mriancholy, cold, and
sapfeu a hard and frail body, rough hair, a humid or livid
complexion ; and to the melnncholy generally black and
bristly hair, buihy and meeting eyebrow;, thick lips, and
flattened note. Olliers give them irregular tecrh and broad
chests. All dial does not come from the stars, but from the
temperament, as the physicians say."

Of all the writers of the seventeenth century Dalla Porta
is the most famous ; he ha*, too, become for many people
the only representative of ancient physiognomy. Under
his portrait, which adorns many editions of his work, wo
read there verseo—

" BUndui lioor* vtrtiuqoa almul delutr* tcoabant,

5«1 trail lrap& anlca Pert* 'lit.

To qoeque virtitcm c:c;"ic f .i 7 i rjdus koMii,

Amtarui* d'tic /W; vccindus oil."

Seventeenth century distiches, if ever any were 1
Not only did Dnila Potto first openly oppose judicial
astrology, but ho opened up a new eta for the study of
physiognomy. He could only make um of the scientific
materials of his time, but he employed them with the

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

wise discernment of a positive philosopher, and h!i psy-
chology is sound. He ( discussed the methods which
may guide us in the study of the human physiognomy,
and lie investigated how, by the temperament of the whole
body, its characteristics might be oonjertured, Thus he
merited his fame and justified the enthusiasm with which
all learned Europe received his work, written first in Intin,
then translated by him into Italian, and by others into
French and Spanish.

In (lie seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this illus-
trious Neapolitan was the hlgh-priest of physiognomy. All
those who wrote subsequently pillaged him, cither quoting or
not quoting him, and drew plentifully from his Encyclopedia,
where he had gathered all that the ancients had been able
to say on the subject of tbs human physiognomy, and all
that an observer could add to them

Niquctius, whom wo hive already cited, was a very
erudite writer and a good observer for h!a time. He also
distinguished astrological from natural chiromancy. He
also, like De la Cbumbre, felt a vague need to reject
antique superstitions, and was a peocuner of the experi-
mental school which was to transform the world. The
Introduction to his natural chiromancy deeerves recalling;
he speaks in it of the importance of the hand—

" wl cntni maun? Zorcauro, ninJiiUH. natuim mlncalum,
Plntarcbo, cacia kimuin wptaniha ; latlantlo, ntiunli «t sipienfto
niag&c&« oUIj, muadi arlifex, amicitiw sedf?, Sjmxtji tit* pm^ilum,
cceporU pr:pc^Dxc:.lurn. oipkis dsfenifitrix, riticofr meikt, int^rpccs
anitni, conedfxtrlx divlu* gritb^ ntmi oral lorn, oftcica
Indaro <HcH»r ra*nui, quwi HAIM, ebsirum totii* otfpocli muaui |
nsimrtrot min ribatn cci, c*t«r**^e oawtfUi* OfMaAts.

Denlquc fidei ■ymbrfam eit, toc« ;crriccr« dertram ck
pcciititcif, q toi oolligitur ex Virgil to, £ae>L

•' Paf4 miU pack 4(il d»lx*m cjkubIi."

Fa Lib *

“ tp« deitrxa Anehtf » hxud nulla vftOittus
Dtl Jumif, tlqmi aatamn pr«cnti pfcftorc 4naaL r

PHYSIOGNOMY.

CO

When Niquetws giv« u* *011x0 sketches of the expres-
sion of passion and erf human characteristics, he pinto
very happily. Here is bts description of an audacious
man —

M A«Jncw vJri figur* :

Oi cMium, itillui bciridas, ftoic, topatiUi .rcniti,

oH»wi wm aopoc ; denier long! j teoe collnm ; bnchia
que genu atti&;r,nt; |n«u» I»l<m ; kamal eldftU j ecali
anil, nifcci. mllentM : lomu opeclut”

Towards the end of the seventeenth centnry, another
Italian writer, Ghiradeill, publish ed a large volume on
physiognomy, whose bile ia very characteristic of this
inflated and bombnatie period. Here k its exact arrange-
ment —

" Cephas

1'Moenomx.t

DirtW Soto l» toa ion..

I. .tilth. it couformsy m'lh die dxomrtu of Ariitcdr,

And of celiei nuatal philosophers, with keief
diicxairM nod careful ©bserroclcrti, we
email the (fcytio
Ofooeh iadr*d hum
Whfcb hive htta craved U lki«

Work.

After which, by sgus and conjeiisres,
wc dcacAOiilc the ilfcrent iccUaukms of mes uni women
By OmmBo Gh«dclll, ****«»,

The Ingemwi Vceputin Academician.

Ax a&ny sennets of divers excellent poets ard ocodru^umt
hxtt Iwn add*), in which the phj«q>nc«mc* focvicwtly dt«l ore
gillintl/ dmriibnJ.

Ard so»: additions to each dixoaw: of the indeCitigable
VaptrdB AcadasidiiL
At Bologna,

At the haw* or tin K«iri of tht Gcrpel,

Dead & Gwnpccy,

The method employed by this ingenious and indefatig-
able academician in studying the bunun physiognomy is

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

i

indeed very curium. He shows u» o hundred human faces,
drawn after life — very ill, it w true— ond finely framed in a
border ornamented with Irregular sculpturing!. Each is
accompanied by a Latin delicti, by a sonnet, and some
remarks by the author. 1 shall quote, as on esample, the
distichs nnd sonnets which refer to a good and bad counten-
ance. I will spare the reader GfajradeUft prolix commentary,

Wc have before ua a beautiful round face, which,
according to the verses, should belong to a fair man.
Here Is the distich —

" Maritas bgenuli pmebmpa inikto cwUi,

Qjcm fltre*:cr.ti vi&ris ess? 00 UU«”

And his lordship, Cewie Orrir.i, graciously offsed to the
author the following sonnet, which is read under the
pc* trait —

"Tit fair locks with wliiiJi natwe li« so ■flinUiilly idorrel llijr
{lotion bio*, Kudus tin other gilts so dear sod so mviilta tint
thMfht ran ligate Its IKely Image. And thua rant lino bo (mi
shouliltt thou be calls! «po» to un ta igtii, fat i powerful and over,
ptceni foroe Is there to pooled Ihw lad to eppose Ir&elf to the
in locate of fu»i Mm,

'* Kir*« bear ctoww o' gyuetlag paid, aid the >:oli-jng, worshiping
crowd how before the pamhsbk ray* with which ibey shine
resplendent.

"But tiers, amln thy golden hiir, thos pcwraeit a more truly
Klotiooi gilt, to prat » trewire eC nrSae that Oou dia!: rlsa alow
the son and sholt attain to the brav»n*-"

On page it our ingenious academician shows os a
frightful snout, framed in the palm of a band, at If fc«“ccn
the hands of a huber about to share it ; and below this
audacious distich, in the manner of a pallory label—

“ HKpida CJtsJita nolo!, atqoa tlmantm
Qeemqor mala rides, tallldltale frai.'

Then comes the sonnet, which, this time, is the work of an
Arcadian— shat is to ay, of the llarquli Etrico Rossi,
member of the Arcadian Academy of bologna —

II

PHYSIOGNOMY.

M Remnva ihymlf from ti nt -rtonovc thyself afu ; foe to tmniin
thee a a cbery fee otter* ; thy mouth Sxn i wot** ocotrtry to thy
thought ; then art always rrody to riagta ties with truth.

41 Kevtr bait IhM ilored to ftoe a donfes ; never hut thou taken
thought for often; :hoo like the boci or the swift #“*1 thus
ovedeett the pisscr’tr/ from nfnr.

“ To every noble spirit, to every honest heart thou art as a brier, and
ta Items, a coward, dccrircr, Idle and ftfl.

*' I €aaa0t deny that if thy life ere lying, thy hair, *<111 and Hirtly*
h truthful sad rcreiJi thy vim ”

Despite this academic trifling, Ghiradclli U a scholar
ar-d a ragndoui observer; his book may be studied with
interest by those who wish to know what the science of
physiognomy »u in Italy towards die end cf the seventeenth
ccniuiy. He devoted to the noie two discourses which
ate really very curious. He says, among other things,
"that the nose helps to manifest passion and contempt.
Doctors have examined several proteins upon the move-
ments of the noec when a man manifests some posiion.
For example, when we want to make fun of and mock
another we make a certain movement of the nose referred
to in die proverb: Emm adunto nau msptHdtrt, And
when we wish to express contempt we make a sign with
the nose, which means Eum nasi rtjiart. And when we
sec anything unpleasant done to anotlser, we twitch back
tl>o nostrils. When we get into a passion, the nostrils are
dilated and the tip of the dom red."

Grattarola is en author who wrote in Latin upon
Physiognomy, and who, in the otder of time, precedes
Ghiradclli.' I have not been able to consult his
work, bot several passages of his died by the writers
of the seventeenth century- do not testif, to great
originality.

Giovanni Incegncri, bishop of Capo d'ltlria, a: the
beginning of the same century, lias left us a Utile treatise
on Natural PAyu'tgntmy. He there gives sign of scanty
erudition, and nearly always contents himself with

HISTORICAL SKRTCII.

'5

presenting in aphorisms the solutions of cabalistic science.
A few examples trill suihee —

“ A be«id oo a •omn it a tija of little hotolf/ 1
“ Excessive sise of the brow is > sign <f Kleota."

" The itu'lncu ol the Jweheti fodkilci a chelerie mia."

11 Vory id! cya ot the sign ate lad ulese, iieUncd to aoelty."
“ BriRht trjos mo the tlgn of wtonnoM.”

" Those “ho xie m-.nsed art toy wantco ”

•'Men with curved noses are nugnarinous.'

ScipiotiB Churamonti of Owna is one si the fcext physi-
ognomists. He published his works only one year
before I ngegneri. 1 Blondo, FinelU, and tome c*hem
belong to the same tchcoL

rienty of autlicra, plenty of volumes, but little originality,
»ml plenty of plagiarism I Wbo knows how often wc might
hare been dragged through the same ruts if towards the
middle of the last century Lavater bad not appeared to
inaugurate a new era for this order of studies He is
the true precursor of the positive science, and he serves
as a link between the writers of the seventeenth century
and of modern rimes.

The physician, Ciro Spoaioni, also devwed a little book
of astrology to the study of rise brow. (Mt/efioiafiv by I ht
Mraturt cf /Ac Liw of the Rr/w. Venice, 1626.) In a
sketch of the history of physiognomy it is necessary
also to mention chiromancy, which has lasted into our
own dHy as a last vestige of the magic of the mWdl- ages.
When we glance at the bnc&s on chiromancy we ate
astonished at the serious way in which imagination has
struggled to rend our character, our intelligence, and cm
destiny in the capricious lines of the hand. I will cite
the following works as the most important;—

La Stitna airifUH on Iraiic di la dirvna/tsit, etc.,
enriched with a great number of figures lew rise facility of

1 XV cou/^UnJu iiyliiyiii if Utnr/fhti xu/eri 6/ftclttu.

*4

PHYSIOGNOMY.

the reader. Pans, 1665. i vol, tit pages. Adrian Sicler.
Chirematae rojalt nouvdU tnrithit it figum, de moraiitei et
da tbftrva/UHs it la taialt, etc. ' Gio-Dattista Dalla Poria.
Della ChirtftwHomia. Too booka translated from a Latin
manuscript of Pompco SamellL Naples, 1677, 1 vol, 167
W*-

lavater was neither a physician nor n naturalist; he
was a citizen of Zurich, and a minister of the Gospel.
Poet and painter, with a feminine nature and an ardent
love for mankind, he carried into everything the glowing
enthusiasm, the sudden convictions, the mobility of ideas
which fotm the joy and tbc torment of all men endowed
with excessive sensibility. It is sufficient to look at the
beautiful portrait of himself which he Ins given us In
his woiks to pcrceiTe at once, and with a glar.ee, all his
defects and his rare qualities. Expansive, open to every
enthusiasm, mobile, hot always keeping within the limits
of goodness and honesty, lie has commented on hia
portrait in n short autobiography which is a jewel of
sincerity and gracefulness, Lavater is one of those few
inen who carry their temperament and nerve* into every-
thing, who say all things to alL As soon too as we have
read a single page of his great work we know and love
him. Both in face and character lie much resembles
Ffnflon. It is said that one day Madame de SUel, walking
with him r.ud some common friends, suddenly stopped and
cried, “ How our dear Lavator resembles Fdnelor, I These
are bis features, his air, his countenance. It is truly
Ff nflon, but Ffnfion slightly Swiss (aw peu Souse)." He
was also a poet, and left several epic poems, among others
one which deserves comparison with Klopstock’s Afasia/i,
some religious dramas, canticles, sermons, theological
writings, and some Swiss songs, which were very popular.

Lavater bccacto u physiognomist, not by reading the
authors who had preceded him, but by drawing with his
rapid pencil feces which pleased or displeased him, and by

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

>3

preserving his drawings with care. By dint of drawing and
collecting, he found himself in possession of a considerable
number of observations which, untied almost without order
and with no scholastic rule, crystallised as though spon-
taneously into a great encyclopedia enriched with hr*
or six hundred plates, and which be called one line day,
Tht Pkyiie^nomeal DiUc.

The first edition appeared in folio in 177*; today very
rare, it is still tlie best, beciuse the figures were executed
under the eyes of the author himself Alter this first
German edition there were others b French, b English,
and in other languages. 1 possess that which was printed
at the Hague ftom 1781 to 1803. It wax begun by the
author, but the fourth volume appeared after his death
under the care of his son, a doctor ctf medicine. We
recoguise all the humanitarian aud religious fervour cf the
oiUhor ever, in the title of this immortal work — Enay on
Physiognomy, datimd to mate man .known and low- d.

Tne author U m fact inspired by love and by faith;
transported by the liveliness of his feelings, he bursts every
moment into hymns of admiration: now lor the mouth
which is so interesting a part of the Cscc; now for the God
who has made mao so beautiful; now for the woman who is
the encliantment of life; in a word, for all that presents
'tsetf to hi* loving eyes. It is related that in a long Obsess,
the consequent* of a wound which be hsd received in the
attack on Zurich by the French, weakness caned him to
fall Into hallucinations and religious ecstasies. He imagined
himself to l* the apostle St John, and present at the
mysteries of the Apocalypse.

In Leva ter there is no longer a trace of judicial aatrrfogy;
nor is tbete servile imitation of the ancient writers, of whom
besides he knew little. But the guesaes of an individual
man lake the place of a scientific examiration conducted
by positive and rational methods. Feeling is substituted
always aud every# here for science- Thence come the

PHYSIOGNOMY.

16

imperfections nf this beautiful work, which remains n
grandiose monument of human genius, but which docs not
supply a firm basis on which to -found other columns and
othet edifices. Admiration for, and love o!, men are not
enough to replace scientific observation; and the genius of
Icrvatcr does not suffice to atone for his complete ignorance
in anatomy and in natural history.

Two acecdotes will serve better thin anything else to
show the weakness of his theory.

One day a stranger presented himself to him.

"M. Lrvatcr," said he, "I have just arrived. Look at
roc well, for I have taken the Journey from Paris to Zurich
to tee you, and to submit my countenance to your examina-
tion. Guess wbo I nm I '

“I have already looked at you attentively. You hare
many characteristic features. To begin, you write. . . .
You probably devote yourself professionally to hterafy
work. . . . Yes, certainly, you are a man of letters.”

“True, but of what sort?"

“I do not know. . . . Yet it appears to me that you are
a philosopher . . . that you know how to seise the
ridiculous side of tilings . . . that you have courage . . .
originality . . . much wit. You might very well be the
author of the Tableau d< Pam , which I have just finished
reading."

It was in (act Mcrcicr.

When the mask of Mirahenu was sent to Lavatcr be
guessed the great revolutionist “ One recognises at once,"
he aid, “ the man of terrible energy, unconquerable in Isis
audacity, inexhaustible in hb resources, resolute, haughty,”
etc.

Hut here is the reverse of the nu-dal

One day his friend Zimmcrmann sent to hint a very
accentuated profile, with a letter written so as to greatly
pique his curiosity. luivaier, who was wanting and
expecting a portrait of Herder, imagined that this profile

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

1

was that of the groat German philosopher, and went into
ecstasies over the intellect ml and poetical qualities of the
man to whom it belonged.

This man was, on the contrary, an assassin executed a!
Hanover. That which happened to Laratcr will always
happen to those who lake physiognomy for an exact
science, and who confound tbo expression with the
anatomy of features, as he always did without himself being
aware of iL Yet the Illustrious pastor of Zurich marks a
new epoch In aur studies, and his work will always be an
inexhaustible mine of information let the artist and
the psychologist. We may say of him as he said of
Raphael—

" Wfcea I -ill* (a Int 0 >lcsl« mj*BJ with adiuliMiae tor lie turned
el llit walks at Gal. 1 Imvw oaly » prewot to nywlf in imruinilion
the ice o( RjphacL lie wiU always be (a; on on apostolic min i i
otaa that U is relatively to otto pjintrri uhK lbe apostles wen
■rlatlieiy to clhrr mm."

Lavater was the apoute of scknrific physiognomy, and
although Lichtcnbcrg wrote agaloit him the celebrated
satire of the Phyitognoaiy of tabs, he will always remain
one of the meat sympathetic figures, the most beloved,
the most brilliant, in the history of physiological sciences.

Lebrun, the celebrated painter ol lmuis XIV., wrote on
physiognomy,' but in an academical manner. The types
of the principal emotions which he has loft ni arc
mannered : tncy arc caricatures and not studies after life, m
we shall hare several occasions to prove during the course
of tills book.

Among the artists wlto have stodied the physiognomy
is also the Italian, De Rutxris, a gentleman of Udine,

1 Lebrun, Cnflnuui Iiw f rqW.w dn 4>gbt»H annum Ju
ftitiau. Putt, 1667, in 410. TV«r 'wanes wo reprint ni in itu
olitkis of lavatci ptbtistxil by Muicou, i 3 kx Sic »l» by Ue saros
aolhar, Exfxnitm tUt /annul it tax*. la folio. Published by A.
Bantu*.